UNINSTALL with a Mac

[Chinky P.]

I want to get rid of Dropbox entirely from my Mac. I'm not a very advanced Mac user, and ordinarily apps can be uninstalled with ease, but not with Dropbox. I followed all the procedures according to this link https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/41 but when I try to drag the Dropbox icon from the list of apps in Finder, a message comes up stating "The item 'Dropbox' cannot be moved to the Trash because some of its plugins are in use." I have no idea what this means - everything else was deleted successfully except this and the icon in Launchpad. Any assistance would be greatly provided.

[SaoirseD]

Hi,

You may need to quit any and all other programmes that you have running on your computer before you try to uninstall Dropbox. I've put the reinstallation instructions below.

First, make sure you save and quit ALL programs that access files in the Dropbox folder.

Here are the steps:

1. Download the newest version:

www.dropbox.com/install

1. Stop Dropbox (If needed):

- Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen
- Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select 'Quit Dropbox'

1. Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:

- To delete this folder open a Terminal (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal for Mac OS)
- Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal and press RETURN:

mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old

- This will move the folder to the Trash and make it visible.

1. Delete the Dropbox Contextual Menu Item Plugin

- Open the Finder and select Go to folder... from the Go menu (or press Shift-Command-G)
- A dialog box should appear. Now copy and paste the following line into the box and press the return key:

     /Library/

- Finally drag the DropboxHelperTools folder to the Trash and enter your Administrator password if prompted to complete this action.

1. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application

- Open the Dropbox .dmg file and double click the Dropbox icon.
- Dropbox should appear in your menu bar.
- Relink your account.

Hope that helps!

[BRUCE K.18]

I cannot  delete dropbox.app, despite performing all these tasks.  It is still causing my iMac to crash.  Do you have any other suggestions to get rid the message that refers to plugins.   Why does Dropbox have such strong tentacles on my machine. Maybe I need to find another cloud company, as I wonder the difficulty in deleting the program is a symptom of spying on me, liked an indestructible virus.

[Robert S. · Accepted solution]

Open the Dropbox app and under its setting uncheck enable Finder integration. Then quit the app and try to drag it to the trash.

I cannot say for certain this will work but a few users have reported they had success with this route.

* I would also uncheck "Start Dropbox on system startup", doing this will allow you to log out and back in if the initial uninstall attempt above doesn't work. After the log out and in, you should be able to remove the app with no issue. 

[Taimur K.1]

Robert, it worked and I was having plug-in issues as well. Unchecking Finder integration did the trick. I am not sure why Dropbox feels that this crucial information should be outsourced to a super user community member to provide and its own instructions are less than complete. I have finally become a paid user and now am having doubts if this is how it expects to support its customers. Thank you for posting this.

[Robert S.]

I am not sure why Dropbox feels that this crucial information should be outsourced to a super user community member to provide and its own instructions are less than complete.

An erroneous conclusion on your part, I'm afraid.

I am not a Dropbox employee, they 'outsource' nothing to me - whatever that means.

Nor, I would judge, is their documentation "less than complete" just because a vanishingly tiny number of users occasionally experience a little difficulty and need a helping hand. In point of fact, I can't replicate the uninstall issue you've experienced on any of my personal Mac systems. And, frankly, my inclination at this point is, it's a rare Finder issue rather than a Dropbox one, since it's Finder which is failing to unload the plugins as it should.

[Taimur K.1]

To clarify my outsource comment, why is this answered by a community user, and not part of the common documentation. Mac is a supported platform, and it may well likely be a Finder issue. Why is the fix to this answered by an external user (you, a great response) but not in the rest of the searches on their help.

What if there was no post by you, I would be dead in the water. That was what I meant by outsourced. Not that they are responsible for the problem but given its a problem, why is the resolution buried in one community side.

[Tom_H]

We try to help as much as possible (Super Users and users in general). Super Users are but users just like yourself, and we spend a fair amount of time here helping others. 

You did post to the User to User forums. With just a splash of staff here and there. 

Having said all that, I have started seeing more and more staff posts here in the forums. 

The staff are always available to answer questions through the ticket system. https://www.dropbox.com/support 

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Dropbox Community here.]